Mobile has fuelled growth in total newspaper readership, which has risen by 1% to 16.3 million readers across combined print and digital platforms, today’s emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data for the 12 months to January 2015 shows.

Printed newspapers continue to contribute the largest audience, with 14.4 million readers, or 81% of the population. Digital readers now number 10.6 million readers, or 59% of the population, a year on year increase of 5%.

Digital audience growth was led by mobile readership, which jumped to 26% from 2.2 million to 2.8 million. The under 40s demographic drove most of this growth, increasing 28% from 1.5 million to 2.9 million.

Digital news consumption rose across all age demographics, with a net increase of 5%, from

10.1 million to 10.6 million. The readership increases were led by the 25-54 segment, up by 4% from 5.7 million to 6 million. In the under 25 segment, readership was up from 1.5 million to 1.7 million and in the 55+ segment, it was up from 2.8 million to 2.9 million year on year.

“The digital consumption of newspapers continues to grow, and the rapid growth in mobile demonstrates that Australians turn to trusted newspaper brands,” The Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands said.

“Printed newspapers remain a vital source of news, information and entertainment for 81% of the Australian population and are still a viable and effective medium for both readers and advertisers.

Digital readers also engage with print, with 82% of digital readers, or 8.7 million people, also reading printed newspapers.”

The Sydney Morning Herald still leads in total masthead readership at 4.9 million, followed by the Daily Telegraph at 4.3 million.

Title [000s]

Sydney Morning Herald 4,948

Daily Telegraph 4,354

Herald Sun 4,113

Courier-Mail 3,301

The Age 3,116

The Australian 2,953

West Australian 1,829

Adelaide Advertiser 1,711

Sunday Times 1,458

Financial Review 1,324

Canberra Times 727

Weekend printed newspapers have the highest average issue readership (AIR), with three titles – The Sunday Telegraph, Saturday Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun – averaging more than one million readers:

Weekend Newspapers [000]

Sunday Telegraph 1241.5

Herald Sun (Sat) 1170.8

Sunday Herald Sun 1132.1

Sunday Mail (QLD) 913.0

Daily Telegraph (Sat) 834.6

Sydney Morning Herald (Sat) 829.0

Sun-Herald 754.7

Courier-Mail (Sat) 682.0

Weekend West 662.0

Weekend Australian 653.7

The Age (Sat ) 648.9

Sunday Age 528.4

Sunday Times 527.5

Sunday Mail (SA) 508.7

Saturday Advertiser 491.5

Weekday newspapers still attract large numbers of readers, with two titles – the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph – averaging more than one million:

Weekday Newspapers [000]

Herald Sun 1416.2

Daily Telegraph 1084.5

Sydney Morning Herald 734.5

Courier-Mail 696.4

The Age 648.9

West Australian 627.0

The Australian 500.5

Adelaide Advertiser 472.2

Financial Review 295.2

mX – NSW 260.6

mX – Vic 249.3

Mercury (Tas) 114.7

Canberra Times 101.6

mX – Qld 85.2

Northern Territory News 65.9

ends.

* Source: emma, 12 months to January 2015. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to January 2015. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+, Nielsen Online Ratings, January 2015, people 14+ only.